Trump-O-Meter

Reverse Barack Obama's Cuba policy

“The president’s one-sided deal for Cuba and with Cuba benefits only the Castro regime but all the concessions that Barack Obama has granted the Castro Regime was done through executive order, which means they can be undone and that is what I intend to do unless the Castro Regime meets our demands.”

Updates

Trump partially rolls back Obama's Cuba policy

President Donald Trump promised to reverse former President Barack Obama's actions to thaw relations with Cuba. Two years into his presidency, Trump has tightened U.S.-Cuba relations, but parts of what Obama did remain intact.

In a June 2017 speech in Miami, Trump laid out the policy actions his administration would take to reverse Obama's legacy on Cuba.

"The previous administration's easing of restrictions on travel and trade does not help the Cuban people. They only enrich the Cuban regime ... Therefore, effective immediately, I am canceling the last administration's completely one-sided deal with Cuba," Trump said.

The administration has largely followed through.

The two most significant changes are restrictions on financial transactions with entities linked to the Cuban military, as well as limitations on travel.

In November 2017, the Trump administration released a list of 180 entities with whom financial transactions would be immediately prohibited. Those are entities that are affiliated or controlled by the military, intelligence or security services. The administration barred transactions with two dozen additional entities in November 2018.

The regulations still allow business with Cuban airports and seaports, allowing trade and travel to continue with permissible entities.

Trump has constrained the travel rules for Americans who want to visit Cuba, but most of Obama's travel opening remain in place, according to Ted Henken, Latin American studies professor at Baruch College.

Technically, Trump has limited travel to educational group trips, humanitarian projects and civil society assistance. Travelers need to keep records of their financial transactions and may be subject to audits by the Treasury Department.

"In practice, what that means is essentially that Americans have to frame their travel and check the box for 'assistance for the Cuban People' instead of the previously standard category 'people-to-people' travel," Henken said. "This change initially put a significant damper on the numbers and kinds of travel to Cuba from the United States, but things have picked up once again after the industry and travelers learned the new rules."

In fact, U.S.-based cruise ships, which can continue to visit Cuban ports of call, have seen significant growth in this area since 2016, according to Henken.

Trump's policy allows Cuban-Americans to visit family in Cuba and continue to send remittances. The Trump administration also won't restore the "wet foot, dry foot" immigration policy that Obama eliminated during his last days in office.

The U.S. embassy in Havana is staying open. However, the staffing has been significantly reduced due to health concerns.

In 2017, a wave of worrisome symptoms including headaches and nausea hit U.S. diplomats stationed in Havana. As a result, the State Department halved the number of U.S. personnel in Havana, forbade families from accompanying diplomatic personnel, limited the stay of U.S personnel in Cuba, and prohibited visits by U.S. officials to Cuba. In turn, the Cuban embassy in Washington reduced its staff.

The State Department also issued a travel warning that saw a decrease in travel to the island, according to Henken.

Between his policies and the health measures, Trump largely froze thawing relations with Cuba but did not go quite as far as his campaign rhetoric may have suggested, according to Jason Marczak, director of the Atlantic Council's Latin American Center.

"The regulations that have been rolled out thus far are a partial rollback but not a complete rollback," Marczak said. "At the same time, there is the potential that more could come. That has had a chilling effect among many business and their desire to take a risk and invest in Cuba."

Trump's policies have limited activities in the realms of travel, diplomacy and business that were made possible under Obama but not enough to reverse Obama's Cuba policy as promised. We rate this as a Compromise.

Trump scales back Obama-era Cuba policies

Following almost three years of thawing Cuban-American relations, President Donald Trump traveled to Miami to deliver updates on his campaign promise to reverse Barack Obama's historic policy.

Speaking before supporters in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, Trump denounced the Castro government, bashed his predecessor's moves to normalize relations with the island nation, and said that sanctions against Cuba won't be lifted until all political prisoners are freed and other freedoms are respected.

"The previous administration's easing of restrictions on travel and trade does not help the Cuban people. They only enrich the Cuban regime ... Therefore, effective immediately, I am canceling the last administration's completely one-sided deal with Cuba," Trump said June 16.

Trump is tightening U.S.-Cuba relations, but he is not completely revoking all of Obama's actions. Among things staying in place is the U.S. embassy in Havana.

Obama announced in December 2014 that the United States would begin talks with Cuba on normalizing relations after five decades of distanced communication. The embassy re-opened in August 2015. (We gave Obama a promise Kept for his campaign promise to grant Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send money to Cuba.)

Trump's policy allows Cuban-Americans to continue to send remittances and visit family in Cuba. But Trump is curtailing Obama's travel expansions.

Self-directed, individual trips will be prohibited, according to a White House fact sheet. Educational trips will be restricted to group travel. Travelers will need to keep records of their financial transactions and may be subject to audits by the Treasury Department.

Trump said he was immediately cancelling Obama's policy, but the White House fact sheet said it may take months for changes to take effect. That's because the Treasury and Commerce Departments need to issue new regulations that align with Trump's goals.

The White House fact sheet outlined four objectives under Trump's policy:

• Enhance compliance with U.S. law, particularly provisions governing the Cuban embargo and ban on tourism;

• Further national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and Cuban people; and,

• Empower Cubans to develop economic and political liberty.

Trump administration officials said that it was a "readjustment" of U.S. policy toward Cuba and did not target the Cuban people, but members of the Cuban military government. Trump is seeking to put restrictions on Cuba "until they provide religious and political freedom to their people," a senior White House official said during a June 15 background briefing.

The Trump administration won't restore the "wet foot, dry foot" immigration policy that Obama eliminated during his last days in office. The policy allowed Cubans who touched U.S. soil to stay in the country. "We will keep in place the safeguards to prevent Cubans from risking their lives to unlawful travel to the United States," Trump said in Miami.

Trump's administration is now tasked with adjusting regulations to align with Trump's policy. In the meantime, we rate this promise In the Works.

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